News

09th March 2018

STONE PLEASED WITH WIDNES VICTORY

The Giants Head Coach Rick Stone spoke to the media, following
the Claret and Gold’s 28-16 victory away at Widnes Vikings.

Huddersfield Giants Head Coach Rick Stone was pleased with the outcome of the match. He explained that there is still room for improvement, but the overall result was the most pleasing aspect from tonight.

“The main thing is the two points, two competition points, something we have lacked a bit of in the last couple of weeks. Away wins are never easy. Home wins are tough enough, but away wins are even tougher. Even when we got to 20-0 up, I knew Widnes weren’t going to give up and they came out and scored three tries. It’s a bit disappointing, we need to have a look at that. For us, the main objective was to come here and get a win. We needed to win some way or fashion. The best part about it was that we controlled the first half pretty well. We scored a couple of tries from kicks, probably just forced the issue a little bit. We probably could have scored one more in the first half, but overall, we defended stronger, and a little more consistent in what we did across the ground. It was a tough night though, pretty drizzly, tough conditions, but happy to walk out with the two points.”

A late rally from the Vikings was not enough to come back, however Stone says that he wasn’t celebrating the win too early, as this Widnes side are different to other Betfred Super League outfits.

“You’re always worried really. Whenever there is time on the clock, there is a game on. By the time they scored their third try it was 26-16, and there was still probably ten, eleven to go at that stage. They are a talented side who play a bit unpredictable, that’s one thing they do, they are outside the box a little bit, compared to a lot of the other attacks. They have always got something up their sleeve and obviously they showed that at the back end of the game.”

Stone was adamant that he saw progression tonight in the Giants performance, with, and without, the ball.

“The way we controlled the game in the first half was pretty good. Defensively, we were really good for 60 minutes. Our effort and our continuous intensity was pretty good there. We’ll have a look at a couple of tries at the finish, and how we managed a couple of kicks wasn’t terrific. It can be a bit of a lottery considering the pitch and the conditions.”

Wellington Albert was brandished a red card for a dangerous tackle on Jermaine McGillvary. The Head Coach had this to say on the incident:

“I’m not quite sure what the whole situation was about. Generally, he (McGillvary) takes those tough carries and gets on with it, without too much fuss, so obviously something happened that he wasn’t happy with, and evoked him a little bit, so I’ll let Jerry (McGillvary) sort that out!”

Danny Brough produced another splendid performance tonight, not only leading by example, but demonstrating how good his kicking game is also. Stone was nothing but complimentary towards Brough:

“They were good Broughy conditions. Drizzly rain and this pitch too, you never know where the ball is going to bounce. It’s always a pretty hard one but the first try from Hinchy (Hinchcliffe) when the full-back dropped it, and Jake scored the second one from a nice little kick. He came up with a few little calm kicks at the back end of the game, where we just needed to settle down as well, so he definitely showed his experience and his worth today.”

Jermaine McGillvary crossed the whitewash for his first Betfred Super League try of the season tonight, and Stone is happy with how Jerry is coming back into the fold, and getting back to his best and the dangerous threat that Betfred Super League defences have come to know.

“It was always going to be a little bit of time for Jez. He’s played a couple of games now and his willingness to carry the ball has never been questioned. He’s well marked. There are plenty of defenders around him when he carries it and some of those yardage carries are really tough, but Jez keeps turning up and doing a decent job. Full credit to him, I’d like to see him get a bit more field ball so he can show his worth. He scored a try today, and I know he would like to see a bit more of that, so hopefully that will come soon.”